Aircraft seats are typically upholstered on the structure. The process begins by a seat manufacturer building the seat components and superstructure first then sending the seat to the upholster to be padded and covered with material. This means that an upholsterer must wait until the structure is completed in order to start the process. This delays the upholster and typically either causes a rush in production by the upholster or a delay in the delivery schedule.
Aircraft seat upholsters are tasked with more than just placing fabric over the seat structure. They are typically only given the seat in a basic form and must build up the seat structure with dense foam or heavier materials required to accommodate different seat styling. Further, the replacement of backrest upholstery is very time consuming since either the entire seat or backrest structure of the seat must be removed and shipped to the upholster, or the upholster must come to the aircraft. This is even further complicated for the replacement of components inside of the backrest. This is again a very time consuming process wherein typically the seat components are repaired in one facility and upholstered in another.
The present invention solves this problem by using a standard shaped shell that fits over the backrest structure and can be upholstered separate from the seat structure itself.